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Smiths discography

kasperhauser

kasperhauser

pfm Member
Just listening to The Queen Is Dead and had a look on wiki. A couple of startling realizations:

(1) They only put out 4 studio albums. (I know pretty much any Englishman will have known this, but it's surprising to a boy from Arkansas.)
(2) Even so, they managed 10 compilation albums. Some sort of tesseract trickery going on there, surely.

Has to be one of the oddest ratios of output-to-impact of any band(?)
 
kasperhauser said:
Just listening to The Queen Is Dead and had a look on wiki. A couple of startling realizations:

(1) They only put out 4 studio albums. (I know pretty much any Englishman will have known this, but it's surprising to a boy from Arkansas.)
(2) Even so, they managed 10 compilation albums. Some sort of tesseract trickery going on there, surely.

Has to be one of the oddest ratios of output-to-impact of any band(?)
Click to expand...

You're right, there is a bit of stretching the catalogue as thin as a thin thing. However, it should be said that a lot of the singles, and most 'b' sides never appeared on an album. There were also a number of radio sessions that are compulsory, but still a ratio of more than 2:1 comps to albums is a bit much!
 
They did put out a surprising number of singles and b sides that didn't make it onto any album. By saying that if one were to buy the four studio albums and the US double compilation Louder Than Bombs you have most of it, though inexplicably not any studio version of This Charming Man, which is arguably their best track (certainly their best bass line). This The Smiths Complete box is a great way of buying The Smiths, though many pedants will (correctly) tell you it is far from complete.
 
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There were 2 compilation albums released actually by the band when they were together, Hatfull Of Hollow and The World Won't Listen, with the specific intention of pulling together some single releases and radio sessions. Most excellent it all is. Plus the live album Rank. Having said that you will still be missing Wonderful Woman which is a personal favourite (b side of 12" of This Charming Man).
 
Worth noting that Hatfull Of Hollow is largely Peel sessions etc, so not a compilation in the conventional rehashing previously available material sense. IIRC with the exception of the non-album singles William It Was Really Nothing and Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now it is all sessions.
 
kasperhauser said:
10 compilation albums
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Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package! :)

As everyone else has pointed out you only really need Hatful of Hollow, World Won't Listen and Louder Than Bombs.

I keep thinking it would be nice to collect all the original 7"s just because they look so great.
 
Tony L said:
Worth noting that Hatfull Of Hollow is largely Peel sessions etc, so not a compilation in the conventional rehashing previously available material sense. IIRC with the exception of the non-album singles William It Was Really Nothing and Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now it is all sessions.
Click to expand...

Plus Hand In Glove, How Soon Is Now, Girl Afraid and Please Please Please...
 
I went to see The Smyths at the 100 Club recently – a great night out and I thought the band were very good indeed. I know, it's not the real thing, but it's a near as you can get these days and the atmosphere in the venue was excellent.
 
My favourite is Stangeways Here We Come. I was lucky enough to see them at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness in the days of This Charming Man. Sublime band.

If you are a vinyl man like me then it's not so easy to collect their catalogue as I suspect it is if you are a digital person. Anyway, I like to listen to tracks from older music in the order intended...
 
There are also many vinyl bootlegs, and many of these have questionable source material. The best one I have is the fairly recent double blue vinyl sourced from Mike Joyce's tapes/RTR's; entitled "Unreleased Demo's & Instrumentals" it's well worth picking up as it has the extended "Queen Is Dead" mix; the SQ is top notch too!

Steve
 
My USA version of the first album has This Charming Man as the 6th track. I didn't realize it wasn't there originally.
 
Ive been alright with the Smiths. Ive got all the cds including louder than bombs which covers something else I dont then need.
Ive never chased down mixes although Im sure there will be a better version on a Peel session somewhere. Im not a true fan then :)

I enjoy the live album Rank

I pretend I saw them live but a lie is a lie. I was probably tucked up in bed with a hot chocolate. Gmex... what a night... the good old days.... shusssh :)

I might get a couple of albums and singles on vinyl
 
kasperhauser said:
My USA version of the first album has This Charming Man as the 6th track. I didn't realize it wasn't there originally.
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Yes, it is definitely not there on the UK vinyl (of which I have a fully signed copy!). I just checked the Smiths Complete box that I have, but haven't played much (I have all the albums on vinyl, though far from all the singles) and that does indeed have This Charming Man on the debut album. I used to have the 12" New York mix of TCM, but it was a) pretty terrible, and b) worth a lot so I let it go! I've still got the 7" and standard 12" of that one as it is probably my favourite Smiths track. The only other oddity/collectable I have is a one-sided 12" DJ promo of Barbarism Begins At Home, it's just the standard album version, but I bet that one is worth a few quid now!
 
10 compilations and I still can't get the studio version of 'The Draize Train' on CD for less than 30 notes...
 
kasperhauser said:
My USA version of the first album has This Charming Man as the 6th track. I didn't realize it wasn't there originally.
Click to expand...

The US version of "Meat Is Murder" has "How Soon Is Now" too, another single which does not appear on the UK track list.
 
Tony L said:
This The Smiths Complete box is a great way of buying The Smiths, though many pedants will (correctly) tell you it is far from complete.
Click to expand...


That's what I've got, I really like these kinds of box set "instant collections" for artists I had previously neglected.
 
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Minstrel SE said:
Ive been alright with the Smiths. Ive got all the cds including louder than bombs which covers something else I dont then need.
Ive never chased down mixes although Im sure there will be a better version on a Peel session somewhere. Im not a true fan then :)

I enjoy the live album Rank

I pretend I saw them live but a lie is a lie. I was probably tucked up in bed with a hot chocolate. Gmex... what a night... the good old days.... shusssh :)

I might get a couple of albums and singles on vinyl
Click to expand...

Haha, my other half and I actually did go to GMEX Festival Of The 10th Summer thing in 86. There was no advertised running order...we got there early afternoon and saw OMD and a couple of others...then about 4:30 we heard the Smiths entrance music playing (Prokofievs Montagues and Capulet). "Why are they playing that now...?....ooh God!" Cue mayhem.
 
Went to the infamous OGWT gig at Derby in '83 with my then girlfriend. Managed to compete with Morrisey for her affections. Still very much in love. A happy story.
 
Tony L said:
I've still got the 7" and standard 12" of that one as it is probably my favourite Smiths track.
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I have this CD with all seven(!) versions of This Charming Man. I don't think I've ever actually sat down and listened to all seven versions one after the other but it's nice to have :)

R-388790-1172947943.jpeg.jpg
 
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